


A Glass of Fish

by Zoi no miko (zoi_no_miko)



Category: Dark City (1998), Inception (2010)
Genre: Bath Houses, Group Sex, Leather Kink, M/M, Oral Sex, Spanking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-28
Updated: 2010-08-28
Packaged: 2017-10-11 07:30:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/109953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoi_no_miko/pseuds/Zoi%20no%20miko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which an experimental training mission in Ariadne's dreams ends up involving lots of Noir, a bath house, leather dresses and unexpected voyeurism.<br/>For prompt: "Ariadne is secretly a shipper."</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Glass of Fish

It was just a training session, testing out new methods. For this dream Ariadne was the dreamer, architect, and subconscious: Their task was to navigate the maze, glean information from her projections and use it to find both Ariadne herself and the safe-object somewhere in the city. They normally had complete control over the layout of the maze on an actual job, so this time they'd be doing everything practically blind, having to deduce everything from interactions with Ariadne's subconscious.

It was, Cobb supposed, the reason why Saito was currently dressed like a film noir dectective, complete with the long coat and fedora. The suit still fit him like a glove, and the look suited him. He supposed that the rather old fashioned looking police uniform he was wearing was to go with that.

It made sense. Though it didn't explain why he was holding a drinking glass with a goldfish swimming inside.

They were in a dingy looking hotel room that showed obvious signs of a struggle, and a few people were crowded around the far side of the bed, one taking pictures. Another looked up at them. "You'll want to take a look at this, detective."

Cobb glanced to Saito and inclined his head; Saito looked a little surprised, but headed over, and Cobb followed. The center of attention was the body of a half naked blond woman, her skin marred and mutilated with large, spiraling cuts.

Saito took one look at the body before turning back to Cobb. "I suppose this is our case." Cobb could hear the question in his voice, and assumed that, like him, he was wondering where the sweet little Ariadne had come up with this. They listened to the projections talk about the murder, watched them take prints and look for trace, watched the body be taken away for the morgue, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out how they could accomplish their aims with a murder mystery.

They finally managed to escape the projections in the hotel and found themselves standing at the curb by a very well kept vintage automobile. It was night, the streets lit by pools of light from the golden light of the streetlights. Saito dug through his pockets and held up the keys with a little shrug. "Shall we follow them back to the precinct?"

Cobb shook his head slowly. While it was a definite advantage that the projections seemed to be interacting with them without any animosity, he wasn't sure this particular mission was going to be a success. "I think we should find the others and regroup. There's too many unknowns without knowing the layout of the maze. We can't trust the subject to create the dream."

"Perhaps we should see what we can find while we are here," Saito suggested reasonably, and opened the car door for him.

Cobb slipped inside, glancing around the car while Saito got in the other side. "Why is there an accordian in the back seat?"

"A clue?" Saito shrugged. "Why are you still carrying the fish?"

Cobb stared at it for a moment and shrugged as well. "It seemed important at the time."

They spotted Arthur and Eames first, walking along in deep conversation, passing under a streetlight. They didn't look terribly different, just set back a couple decades in fashion. Arthur was still in a three piece chocolate brown suit, a long coat over the top. A chain for a gold pocket watch looped from his suit jacket pocket to a clip on the inside edge of the jacket. He was wearing round, gold-rimmed spectacles to match and carrying a leather doctor's bag, though knowing Arthur, Cobb supposed it was full of guns. He glanced up as they slowed and tugged on Eames' coat sleeve, pulling him over to the car as Cobb rolled down the window. "I don't think this is going to work. The dream is too big, it'll take us forever to find something." He paused, glancing over Cobb's clothes. "Nice... fish."

"I don't suppose the two of you have any idea what we're supposed to be doing in here?" Eames's clothes were nondescript - olive overcoat, grey suit jacket, blue shirt. "I got hit on by a hooker and then ran into Arthur, but there doesn't seem to be any clear cut reason to be here. I tried asking around about Ariadne but they all seem pretty clueless."

"We're working a murder case," Cobb explained, "But it seems strange to have that be the focus of the scenario, it would be too lengthy for the dream time we have."

"Is there even a scenario?" Arthur glanced down the street, then back. "If this was a real mark, if we just dialed in and let them control everything like Ariadne is now, we'd be left to the whims of the dreaming subconscious. I'm sure there's secrets in here somewhere, and I'm sure she's here, but I don't know if we'll find her."

"Maybe we should find Yusuf," Eames remarked, rounding the car to get in the back. "Why is there an accordian in the back of your car?"

"Most likely for the same reason Cobb is still carrying the fish," Saito remarked, waiting until Arthur was seated with the door closed before beginning to drive again. "It is a shame we do not have more time on the clock. I would like to see the end of this mystery."

"It does seem a very interesting world," Arthur agreed, looking out the windows as they drove through the darkness. The city seemed strangely lively for night time, people walking too and fro. Then he choked. "Oh my god, what the hell is he wearing? Saito - other side of the street."

Saito swung the car around and pulled up to the curb in front of the entrance to a building. Yusuf sat on the steps, frowning, his glower deepening when Eames hopped out of the car. "Don't you dare say a thing."

"I wasn't going to say anything at all about your apparent taste in bondage gear," Eames remarked, voice one step away from laughter. "But since you brought it up - "

"You think I'm wearing this by choice?" Yusuf's outfit seemed to be some kind of long, black leather robe, liberally adorned with straps and buckles. "Why do you all get the normal clothes?"

Cobb got out of the car as well, leaning up against the door as he regarded Yusuf. "It doesn't fit with everything else, there has to be some kind of significance. We're all 40's era film Noir types, why dress Yusuf like he's just come out of a hardcore porno movie?"

"It's not my subconscious," Yusuf interjected incredulously. "Can we please get out of here?"

"We should try to see what we can find while we're here," Cobb decided. "I'm sure Yusuf in leather is key."

"But then again," Saito pointed out as he closed the door to the car and rounded it to join him, "You are still holding a glass of fish."

"Maybe he's meant to go to some kind of underground club," Eames suggested, glancing up the stairs to the door of the building they stood in front of. It was nondescript, apart from a small sign next to the door reading "Public Baths" with the hours of operation underneath.

"Like an onsen?" Saito mused, but was startled by Arthur's sharp reply.

"No. Absolutely not, not like an onsen at all."

Eames chuckled, low and devious. "Why Arthur, you say that as if it's a bad thing. You'd know this from experience now, would you?"

Arthur glared at him before pushing the gold rimmed glasses up on his nose. "Shove it, Eames."

"Pardon us, gentlemen." A projection stepped past them to reach the stairs to the bath house, his arm possessively looped around the waist of a smaller blond man. He had dark curly hair and striking green eyes and caught Eames' eye as he passed. The projection grinned and gave him a pointed glance up and down, quirking an eyebrow in obvious invitation before taking his companion inside.

The projection was wearing the exact same clothes as Eames was, Cobb realized suddenly, and the blond was in Arthur's suit. "Hey, wait a minute...."

Eames was staring after the man, but rather than responding lewdly to the silent proposition, he seemed contemplative. He snapped his fingers suddenly. "I know where I've seen this all before! Completely ingenious. And I'm the main character, clearly a fitting assignment. I think we should follow them." He turned and bounced up the steps, ignoring Arthur trying to call him back sharply, disappearing inside.

Saito moved towards the steps, glancing back at the others. "Perhaps we should stay together?"

Arthur groaned softly, then started up the steps to the doors before anyone else could reply. "I'm going to fucking kill him."

Yusuf stood with a groan, brushing the dust off the back of the bondage dress. Then he started up the steps after Arthur, glancing back. "Well, you guys coming or not?"

Glass with fish still in hand, Cobb shrugged and followed, Saito falling into step behind him. He pushed through the doors into the foyer of the bath house, and immediately began to wonder if this hadn't been a bad idea after all. Arthur was standing stock still in the middle of the foyer, a hand covering his eyes with his fingers digging into his temples, as if to blind himself and sooth a headache at the same time. Yusuf looked torn between watching and running, and Eames... Eames was definitely watching, grinning appreciatively as a projection of himself pinned a projection of Arthur to the wall, seemingly dead set on ravishing projection-Arthur's mouth with his own.

"These are some very interesting thoughts that Ariadne's subconscious has come up with," Saito said calmly. "Shall we try somewhere else?"

"I'm going inside." Eames was past the admittance desk and through the doors to the bathhouse almost before he'd finished speaking, regardless of Arthur's little helpless whimper.

"Eames!" Cobb thrust the fish at Saito, who managed to grab it without sloshing water over the edge as Cobb took off to follow Eames through the door. "Goddammit, come back here!" He hurried down the tile hallway, stopping as it opened up into a change room filled with dark wood lockers and benches with hooks on the wall. It was also filled with them. Not just one Eames and Arthur, but several sets of them, all in various states of dress and engaged in various lewd acts. And it wasn't just projections of Arthur and Eames, either. Cobb swallowed hard. "... why am I bent over Yusuf's lap getting a spanking?"

"You ask that like it's my subconscious," Eames replied, still grinning. "Mind you, I am incredibly impressed with the girl." He moved through the change room and into the pool area where it was more of the same. On a bench, a projection of Arthur was kneeling between Eames and Cobb, hands curled around Cobb's hips as he took his cock deep into his throat, groaning as Eames thrust up deep inside him. Nearby another projection of Cobb lay stretched out with - good god, was that Fischer riding him? A projection of Saito knelt behind Fischer, guiding the boy to move as he rode both their cocks at once.

Cobb felt his mouth go dry.

Eames followed his gaze and gave a soft chuckle. "Feel like you should be taking notes?"

It was obscene, but Cobb couldn't bring himself to look away, gaze locked on the way their bodies moved together, the pleasure and ecstasy in their expression, the little helpless, high-pitched whimpers that were coming from Robert's throat. Perversely, Cobb suddenly started pondering whether or not Saito could find a reputable escort who looked like that. He glanced to the pool, focusing on another projection of Saito locked in a deep kiss with a projection of Yusuf and frowned. "We have to go. Now." He grabbed Eames arm and yanked him back into the change room, back to where the rest of the team had tentatively come in to stand in the change room at the mouth of the hallway.

Saito looked around slowly, eyebrows slowly rising higher. "This is certainly extremely different than an onsen."

"Can we just get out of here?" Arthur was stalwartly ignoring the projections. "We don't have much time left, but I for one would prefer not to spend it exploring the deepest recesses of Ariadne's fantasies."

Yusuf seemed completely uninterested in the fact that his projection had moved on to spanking Arthur. Instead he looked through the open lockers. "Do you think any of them would notice if I stole some normal clothes?"

"Oh shit."

They turned to find Ariadne in the doorway, her dark hair sleek and long, her form gorgeous in a long, mermaid style evening dress - light green, with lots of sparkle. She would have been resplendant had she not been quickly going pale, walking towards them quickly. "Oh god, guys, you're so not supposed to be here. How the hell is this place even here?"

Eames grinned widely and shrugged. "I don't know, love, but I'm certainly not complaining."

Ariadne ignored him. "Oh god. I, um - I didn't really intend for everything to be like this, I just watched this weird sci fi movie last night, and..." She glanced over to where Yusuf was struggling with the multitude of leather straps on his coat. "Oh my god, Yusuf, I'm so sorry."

"Well, I think we can write off this idea entirely," Arthur remarked.

Eames just shrugged, still grinning. "I think this was a very successful exercise. We did find her secrets, after all."

Arthur quirked an eyebrow. "I'm not sure anyone's going to hire us to extract someone's sexual fantasies."

"Well I certainly would."

Arthur drew a revolver from his pocket and cocked it. "Home time, Mr. Eames."

"But darling this is so much fun. Can't we stay a while longer? And you look so handsome in those little glasses." He glanced up towards the ceiling as the air reverberated with the slowed warble of Edith Piaf. "Well, bugger."

Arthur gave a little smirk and shot him neatly between the eyes before turning the revolver on himself. "Never gets old," he commented, and pulled the trigger.

"I'm completely behind this," Yusuf added, grabbing the abandoned revolver and following suit.

Saito patted Ariadne's shoulder gently, giving her a gracious smile. "You have no reason to be ashamed of such an imagination, Ariadne. But I don't suppose you care to reveal the meaning behind the fish?"

Ariadne shrugged helplessly. "Well, the fish was - "

The music swelled, and they woke up.

~~~


End file.
